Signs of house needing a rewire??

hbrad92 · Feb 25, 2014

I have had a call from a friend asking me to come check his wiring in his house and to basically tell him if he needs it rewired.

I know the fusebox will need replacing as he has the old rewireable cartridge fuse set up.

What a wanted to find out is what are the obvious or most common signs of a rewire being needed? I understand most oldish properties have white cable with old red and black colours etc, but is that an instant sign of a required rewire?

I plan to test the installation regardless of whether it needs rewiring or not when I upgrade the fusebox, but the bloke wants answers and prices asap. That leads me to my next question of how much should a rewire come to roughly. its a small 2-3 bed house and will only require basic sockets switches and lights etc (nothing fancy).

Any help would be much appreciated!

Clive P · Feb 25, 2014

Hi,

I'm really stuck for words, I think everything has already been said; and GMES look what you would of missed!

Regards.

guest119 · Feb 25, 2014

Do your friend a favour and get a more experienced (and competent) to do the work.

Boydy

telectrix · Feb 25, 2014

benji said:
whats a rewirable cartridge fuse ? is it a cartridge fuse with a piece of wire wedged down the side

yep. also known as a farmer's fuse. it has udder characteristics than BS numbers.

R G · Feb 25, 2014

Signs of a house needing a rewire

answer The OPS had ago at it,,,,,

GMES · Feb 25, 2014

Clive that made me smile cheers mate, but on a serious note how can any right minded person think it is acceptable to come on here and ask members how to test an installation and then go and attempt to do the job. I honestly think one day we are going to here that someone as either been seriously injured or worst by one of these people. these threads are really starting to get under my skin now.

trev · Feb 25, 2014

For sale,

All my tools

Reason for sale, the trade is screwed.

gnuuser · Feb 25, 2014

benji said:
whats a rewirable cartridge fuse ? is it a cartridge fuse with a piece of wire wedged down the side

re-wireable fuse cartridge can be identified by the end caps or labels.
the end caps can screw on and off and you usually ordered the element strip for the cartridge in bundles of 10 or more.
they are mostly phased out here because it was too easy to put over sized elements in them.
kind of look like these

[ElectriciansForums.net] Signs of house needing a rewire??

they were also fun to pack a small gob of Limburger cheese (when powered up the smoke was particularly vulgar)

there are different types of cartridge fuses out there in the world but the above type is what i see the most in the old industrial panels

gnuuser · Feb 25, 2014

there is another reason they are being phased out but i cant post that info here or in any forum.
for any reason

trev · Feb 25, 2014

gnuuser said:
there is another reason they are being phased out but i cant post that info here or in any forum.
for any reason

So PM me the reason and I'll post it up

gnuuser · Feb 25, 2014

nuff said!

JulianC · Feb 25, 2014

What a wanted to find out is what are the obvious or most common signs of a rewire being needed?

Smoke pouring out of the roof/windows/doors, fire engines outside, charred corpses piled up around the sockets and no RCDs.

Pondy · Feb 25, 2014

Hasn't anyone considered the possibility that the op is on a wind up?

Dcf · Feb 25, 2014

wind up?
unfortunately not i think.
my 2p worth to the op would be to go and try to get a job with someone and get more experience before tackling jobs under your own steam.
in todays litigation happy climate, making an arse of someones house install is going to get you in the land of the lawyer and all the crap that that entails

Guest569 · Feb 25, 2014

Rewire you say ?

gnuuser · Feb 26, 2014

what signs?
test results and condition of the cores.
possibility that home owner may want a newer system or future upgrades.
and lastly the power requirements will need to be considered.
working with another seasoned spark will help the op to get a better field education in making these decisions to rewire.
but its the safety of the homeowner that needs to be the primary concern